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NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline prices have fallen more than 10 cents per gallon in a week and could fall another 25 cents by the end of summer, a sign the worst is over for U.S. motorists this vacation season. The decline tracks a record pullback in the price of crude that has come amid mounting evidence high energy costs and an economic slowdown are shrinking American demand for fuel, auto and travel group AAA said Friday. "We expect pump prices below $4 this weekend and we could see the price fall another 25 cents before Labor Day...

Possibly the first political spot in history to feature ecstatic cheers for the other guy on the soundtrack. Any ad that leverages the GOP’s advantage on drilling is a good ad, I guess, but this one does too much and too little, neglecting to hammer the Dems on that gas-tax hike they’re flirting with and seemingly blaming the global spike in oil prices squarely on, um, Barack Obama. (Maybe he is omnipotent.) Also, as a simple factual matter, it’s not true that Obama says no to independence from foreign oil: It’s that he wants independence from foreign oil exclusively through...

THIS IS NOT A DRILLJuly 16, 2008 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or as she is called on the Big Dogs blog, "the worst speaker in the history of Congress," explained the cause of high oil prices back in 2006: "We have two oilmen in the White House. The logical follow-up from that is $3-a-gallon gasoline. It is no accident. It is a cause and effect. A cause and effect." Yes, that would explain why the price of oral sex, cigars and Hustler magazine skyrocketed during the Clinton years. Also, I note that Speaker Pelosi is a hotelier ......

Dear Senator Specter As my only local federal elected official from my own party I am calling on you to take action to relieve the current and most unnecessary energy crisis. I have no choice in my energy consumption. I am a research pharmacologist working for a local pharmaceutical. I live in Ambler, but my office is in Princeton NJ. I often go to our main lab in Collegeville which is just as fuel consumptive as Princeton. I already drive a very fuel efficient car. I car pool when I can. But I don’t always have the same work schedule...

A cloud-to-ground ligtning strike from a severe thunderstom hit a large gasoline storage tank at the Magellan Petroleum tank farm in Kansas City, igniting 2 million plus gallons of unleaded gasoline, rapidly growing into a huge inferno of flame belching over 200 feet in the air. Local authorities have elected to let the fire burn itself out, which is anticipated to take a day or more. The fire is presently contained to the burning tank. Authorites and company officials feel confident the fire poses no danger to other large storage tanks nearby. Video from local news helicopters shows tank walls...

Faced with a national outcry over the high price of gasoline and soaring profits for energy companies, the oil and gas industry is waging an unusually pricey campaign to burnish its image. The American Petroleum Institute, the industry's main lobby, has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign, which includes advertising in the nation's largest newspapers, news conferences in many state capitals and trips for bloggers out to drilling platforms at sea. The intended audience is elected officials and the public, with an emphasis on the latter. The industry is trying to convince voters -- who, in turn, will make...

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FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — Amid various media reports of water shortages in Baghdad, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team (Heavy) continues to help the residents of the Mada’in Qada find short- and long-term solutions to insurgent-created water distribution problems. Soldiers from the Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team (Heavy), performed an assessment of the Al Bawi pump station, outside of Salman Pak, Sept. 4. Holland, Ohio, native Lt. Col. Todd R. Ratliff, 42, the BSTB commander, inspected the building, the pumps and the generators at the facility. “This was an assessment to verify information we were getting from...

Per FR excerpt policy, Bloomberg is link only.STORYIn the interest of being fair and balanced, there's also this:Oil Prices Fall Below $64 a Barrel

US Soldiers going over water operations. Department of Defense photo by Sgt Ashly Rice. JURN— Helping the Iraqi people rebuild an infrastructure devastated from years of neglect under Saddam Hussein is the challenge placed before U.S. military Civil Affairs units in Iraq. Restoring essential services and helping the Iraqi people meet their basic needs without having to rely on the Coalition is the ultimate goal of reconstruction efforts. As part of this overall mission, providing a clean and accessible water supply comes as another step towards the establishment of stable and sanitary living conditions for the people of Iraq. In...

Airport embarrassment could lead to jail CHICAGO, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- A man who panicked out of embarrassment when asked about a suspicious object in his luggage at Chicago's O'Hare airport and said "bomb" could go to jail. Mardin Azad Amin made a preliminary appearance in court Wednesday, charged with felony disorderly conduct as a result of the Aug. 16 incident in which he was too embarrassed to tell airport screeners the suspicious object was part of a penis pump. Twice when asked to identify the grenade-shaped device on the X-ray screen, Amin replied "a bomb," the Chicago Sun-Times reported...

For years, the world's vaccine companies have labored in the shadows of the pharmaceutical industry, vilified by parent groups who claim childhood vaccines can cause neurological disorders like autism. Now, almost overnight, these same companies have been thrust to the forefront of a massive campaign to produce a vaccine against pandemic flu. Not since Jonas Salk's work to find a cure for polio in the 1950s have vaccine scientists been so squarely in the vanguard of medicine. The challenges are vast. The unanswered questions surrounding the influenza virus are profoundly difficult, the process for producing vaccines is slow and unwieldy,...

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Time to Remove Barriers to Boosting Oil Refining Capacity by Ben LiebermanPosted Jul 27, 2006The high price of oil is the main reason that the price of gasoline has nearly doubled over the last three years, but it is not the only reason. The cost of turning oil into gasoline has also risen, thanks in part to costly federal regulations on refinery operations and expansions. Many in Congress are aware of this problem, and the House recently passed the Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act (H.R. 5254) to address it. This very modest measure would streamline refinery-related regulations and would be...

A Creek County jury late Thursday convicted a former judge who was accused of exposing himself by using a sexual device while he presided over court cases. The panel deliberated more than five hours before returning a guilty verdict against Donald Thompson on all four counts of indecent exposure. The jury had requested a dinner break around 6:30 p.m. and sent a note to the judge at 8:49 p.m. that a decision had been reached. Jurors recommended one year in prison and a $10,000 fine on each count against the judge, 59, who served more than 20 years on the...

BRISTOW, Okla. (AP) -- Former Judge Donald D. Thompson, a veteran of 23 years on the bench, is on trial on charges he used a penis pump on himself in the courtroom while sitting in judgment of others. Over the past few days, the jurors have watched a defense attorney and a prosecutor pantomime masturbation. A doctor has lectured on the lengths the defendant was willing to go to enhance his sexual performance. The white-handled sexual device sits before the jury box for hours at a time. Occasionally an attorney picks it up and squeezes the handle, demonstrating the "sh-sh"...

U.S. Army Lt. Col. John Cross, battalion commander of 1st Special Troops Battalion, meets with local leaders from the village of Muzerfa, Iraq, Jan. 26, 2006, to dedicate a new water pump that provides water from the Tigris River for the village and irrigates the nearby farm fields. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. James Real Iraqi Villagers Dedicate New Irrigation Pump Following the dedication, U.S. soldiers and the villagers enjoyed a banquet and discussed issues. By 1st Brigade Combat Team 4th Infantry Division TAJI, Iraq, Jan. 27, 2006 —The village of Muzerfa dedicated a new irrigation pump Jan. 19,...

Judge used 'penis pump' during murder case Sep 26 2005 icWales   A US judge will go on trial today charged with three counts of indecent exposure after allegedly masturbating using a “penis pump” while presiding over a murder case.Witnesses claim they could hear the noise of the device coming from beneath the robes of Donald Thompson as he sat on the bench.The 58-year-old former district judge had served at Creek County Court, Oklahoma, where he was charged, for 22 years.The sex toy will be presented as evidence during the trial.The court has also permitted testimony that a second pump...

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, gas prices have soared at many locations. In Katrina's path of ruins, prices have risen almost a dollar overnight! Recently in Atalnta, one gas station was asking 5.36 for a gallon of regular unleaded! Premium was selling for more than 6 dollars a gallon!!! They did this, because GAS SHIPMENTS WERE DELAYED and a lot of people wanted gas. Had they sold a gallon for 2.70, they would have run out almost immediately. But because they raised the price, everyone who desperately needs gas will be able to buy a little. However, people...

Soaring gasoline prices are getting a rise out of many U.S. motorists, but by and large they're not getting in the way of summer vacations, commuting habits or SUV sales. What if gasoline prices, which have risen to $2.55 a gallon, keep climbing? Diana Amaro, of Denver, said that if gas reached $3 a gallon, she'd consider taking the bus. Ray Sykora, of Yuba City, Calif., said pump prices would have to exceed $4 a gallon before he hopped on public transportation. No matter how much motorists shake their heads in disgust at record pump prices, fuel consumption isn't expected...